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It has come down to the wire yet again for this month’s installment Operation Popcorn. This month’s selection from Hey Popcorn Guy is Flair marshmallow bits. A great addition to cereal, yogurt, cakes, cookies and my favorite…brownies. I will admit and stand by the fact that I make brownies using brownie mix. I have had some really fabulous homemade brownies in my time, have even made a few. Just let me say I always seem to be in way too big of a hurry and the mix works for me. We add in chopped candy bars, coconut, nuts, chocolate chips, chocolate stars and the list goes on. Now on the list of add ins are Flair marshmallow bits. It is important to mix the bits into the dry mix and then add the oil, water and eggs. Any way you slice them, they are delicious. Don’t underestimate the power of using mixes to make life a bit easier during the busy times. Stay tuned for next month’s installment of Operation Popcorn, we shall see what Hey Popcorn Guy has in his bag of tricks.

For the month of August, “Hey Popcorn Guy”…your friend and mine Brian Busby contacted me and asked if it was too late to send over the flavor for this month’s challenge…and I of course said “bring it on”. As I saw “Hey Popcorn Guy” pulls out of my driveway in his van, I realized the drop had occurred and went to check only to find Butter Toffee popcorn. He is taking it easy on me I thought to myself and immediately opened the bag to have a taste. After forcing myself to stop eating the butter toffee popcorn (it had been a bit of a stressful day), I came up with a plan for the recipe.

Butter Toffee Pecan Cookies

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter toffee popcorn, broken into smaller pieces

½ cup roasted salted pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream sugar and butter together until creamy, add eggs, one at a time and then add vanilla. Mix together the flour and baking soda and add a bit at a time until combined. Stir in the popcorn pieces and pecans.

Lo & behold, I returned home one day to find another offering from “Hey Popcorn Guy” for the month of July, and it was……Creamy Cucumber! Now I will be honest and say that I thought to myself, what in heaven’s name am I going to do with this? I came up with an idea after some careful thought. In the height of summer, what is something you can hardly give away and grows plentiful in most gardens, you guessed it zucchini!

I was thinking about it a bit more and decided dill would go really well with this recipe as well, and there you have it, a recipe was born. The creamy cucumber popcorn is from “Hey Popcorn Guy”, the Dill olive oil is from Winemaker’s Daughter and the zucchini is from Triple B Produce all of these businesses are in and around Manawa. Check out your local area, lots of fun finds to be had.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small summer squash, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 mini colored peppers, diced

1 small potato, diced

1 medium zucchini cut in half

2 cups creamy cucumber popcorn

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 to 2 teaspoons Dill olive oil from Winemaker’s Daughter

1 teaspoon butter

Heat up skillet and drizzle olive oil into the hot pan and place butter in pan as well. Place diced veggies into pan and sauté approximately 10 minutes until they begin to soften. Place cucumber popcorn in a food processor with the chopping blade and pulse until the popcorn becomes quite fine. Add popcorn to the skillet, along with the dried dill and salt.

Scoop out seeds from zucchini, scoop out insides and chop and add to the skillet and sauté a few additional minutes. Drizzle olive oil on the cut side of the zucchini halves, and spoon veggie mixture into zucchini halves. Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the zucchini halves and bake in a 13 X 9 pan in a 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes. You could also wrap them in aluminum foil and place them on your grill.

It is the end of June and I find myself in a bit of a hurry to post the latest recipe using “Hey Popcorn Guy’s” choice of popcorn. This time I must admit I am a bit more excited with the offering, it is Maple Walnut Popcorn. I thought well what am I going to do with this? Yes an idea sprang forth and in keeping with a bit of a bed and breakfast sort of thing I chose to use the latest offering in Maple Walnut Almond Granola. I am feeling good about this recipe it is in the oven right now toasting. Please try this recipe, with some fruit and yogurt or maybe just with some fresh berries and milk. Either way you choose to enjoy it, give it a try and see if you don’t come away with a few ideas of your own for using the many different flavors offered by “Hey Popcorn Guy”! See you in July with yet another challenge!

1/3 cup Maple Syrup

3 Tbsp. coconut oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups oats, old fashioned (all I had was quick cooking, so that is what I used)

So for the month of May it is down to the wire. The flavor of the month is Chocolate Dipped Banana, and yes Hey Popcorn guys sense of humor just keeps on giving doesn’t it? So with the help of my daughter Morgan, we concocted a plan. Banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwiches. And just for a little added bonus, rolled in chocolate dipped banana popcorn. I have to say that we road tested those ice cream sandwiches, and yes they are delicious. So check out next month, heaven only knows what Hey Popcorn Guy has in store for us next, always with a twinkle in his eye and a laugh….thank goodness. Until next month, check out Hey Popcorn Guy on Facebook and see what flavors he is highlighting and where he will turn up next.

Grease baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. I actually baked these in a jelly roll pan with a silicone liner, for approximately 20 minutes and let them cool. Then cut them with a biscuit cutter to get the round shape.

This month Hey Popcorn Guy dropped of the flavor for this month’s challenge and it’s no April fool’s! Honey Mustard is the flavor this month. My daughter Morgan came to visit with our new granddaughter Willow for a few days and so we were throwing out ideas as to how to utilize the honey mustard popcorn in a recipe and Honey Mustard Meatballs was the winner. So this month’s challenge was made by Morgan Kubash, and they were tasty. Served alongside mashed potatoes, oriental style veggies, it was what’s for dinner!

Honey Mustard Meatballs

3 cups Hey Popcorn Guy Honey Mustard Popcorn

10 Ritz Crackers

1 pound hamburger

½ medium onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon Honey Mustard

Pulse together honey mustard popcorn, Ritz crackers and medium onion together in a food processor, pulse until the consistency of bread crumbs. Mix into the hamburger, with the honey mustard, just until incorporated. Form into small meatballs, place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. Serve with honey mustard cream sauce.

Honey Mustard Cream Sauce

4 Tablespoons butter

4 Tablespoons flour

3 cups milk

4 Tablespoons Honey Mustard

¼ teaspoon season salt

Pinch of black pepper

1 teaspoon dill

Place butter in a pan to melt. Once the butter is melted, add flour and whisk into butter and cook for approximately one minute. Add milk and continue to whisk until thickens. Add honey mustard, salt, black pepper and dill.

In preparation for our own version of March Madness, Hey Popcorn Guy messaged me at the end of February and let me know that he would be delivering the next challenge soon. He did sound in the message a tad bit on the devilish side, however I hoped for the best and was pleasantly surprised. Grandma La La, Hey Popcorn Guy’s better half, dropped off the challenge a few days later, she said it reminds them of Spring. So being that Spring brings Easter time I thought why not make an edible candy bowl for all those sweet treats. Any holiday that offers up candy is one I can get excited about so here is the recipe for our edible candy bowl using Citrus Blend popcorn compliments of Hey Popcorn Guy!

1/3 bag of 10 oz. bag of marshmallows

3 Tablespoons butter

6 oz. white chocolate chips

Melt together in a sauce pan the marshmallows, butter and white chocolate chips. Once melted turn off the heat and add the bag of Citrus Blend popcorn and stir to coat. Pour into a plastic bowl and with buttered hands, work to form the shape of the bowl. Let set up. Remove from the plastic bowl once cooled and fill with your favorite candy. Enjoy!

The second delivery of popcorn was dropped off earlier this week, and if people perhaps have been fooled into thinking “Hey Popcorn Guy” doesn’t have a sense of humor, rest easy, because he does. Which was demonstrated in the flavor of popcorn that he brought me to work with….Black Cherry & Red Cherry. I know right? He is thinking perhaps that I have more imagination then I really do, however let’s give it a go. This was a bit of a head scratcher for me and I was up against the ropes for awhile, I’m not gonna lie, then the creative process took over and a recipe was born. The bars are really tasty and I hope when you find yourself with some Black Cherry & Red Cherry popcorn from “Hey Popcorn Guy” that you will give this recipe a try!

You will need a 13 X 9 pan, butter the pan well. Place the marshmallows and butter in a pan. Place pan on medium heat and begin to melt, continually stirring. Once the marshmallows and butter have melted together, stir in popcorn and crispy cereal. Press out on the bottom of the 13 X 9 pan , allow to cool. While the cereal layer is cooling, place softened cream cheese, whipping cream and powdered sugar in a mixer and whip until combined, and then whip for an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the cereal mixture with a spatula. Melt together in a bowl the chocolate chips. You can use a double boiler, or what I did was melt it in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, stir together once more and spread onto the cheesecake layer. At this point you can refrigerate the bars, however I did not, I allowed them to cool on the counter and then cut them into squares.

Some of you may have seen one of my Breakfast with Judy video’s on You Tube several months ago, when we made Apple Cinnamon Mini Loaves using Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Pretzel Cookies, which is a product that is carried by Manawa’s own Brian Busby also known as “Hey Popcorn Guy”. At that time, Brian aka “Hey Popcorn Guy” offered me a challenge. Each month in 2016, Brian would choose a flavor of popcorn and drop it off here at Lindsay House Bed and Breakfast and I would utilize it in a recipe in some way. I agreed as I thought it would be an interesting challenge and a way to stretch myself as a home cook.
And so Operation Popcorn has begun. Brian has dropped off my first challenge for 2016 in the form of Tomato & Basil Popcorn. I must admit I have been scratching my head trying to figure out how I am going to utilize this interesting and somewhat challenging ingredient.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of our first installment of Operation Popcorn.

Place 2 cups of tomato & basil popcorn in a food processor with the chopping blade. Pulse until the popcorn is a fine crumb. Place in a pie plate and add panko bread crumbs, basil and kosher salt.

In another pie plate, crack 2 eggs and beat.

Place chicken breasts between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and pound until about ¼” thin.

Dip chicken breast in the egg and coat both sides.

Put into popcorn crumb mixture and turn to coat both sides with crumb mixture.

Place in a frying pan on medium heat with a pat of butter and a drizzle of Winemaker’s Daughter Shallot Garlic olive oil, or the oil of your choice. Fry until a golden brown on both sides and place on a foil lined cookie sheet and place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes.